The day I turned 16, my boyfriend-to-be died. I brought him back to life. Then things got a little weird...
Molly Bartolucci wants to blend in, date hottie Rick and keep her zombie-raising abilities on the down-low. Then the god Anubis chooses her to become a reaper-and she accidentally undoes the work of another reaper, Rath. Within days, she’s shipped off to the Nekyia Academy, an elite school that trains the best necromancers in the world. And her personal reaping tutor? Rath. Who seems to hate her guts.
Rath will be watching closely to be sure she completes her first assignment-reaping Rick, the boy who should have died. The boy she still wants to be with. To make matters worse, students at the academy start turning up catatonic, and accusations fly-against Molly. The only way out of this mess? To go through hell. Literally.

Molly is so excited for her 16th birthday party. She is about to get her first kiss from her crush Rick and her teenage life is finally coming together! Then at her party Rick trips, hits his head and dies right there in front of her. She has necromancer powers so she tries to save him. Molly grabs his souls and shoves it back into his body. The only problem is she only grabbed 3/5 of it. Should be enough though right?! Rath the reaper who was there to retrieve Rick's soul is not happy.

Molly's world was incredibly different than I expected going into this book. It is all about ancient Egyptian mythology. Zombies, ghouls, and different powers are all out to the world. Molly's dad even owns a zombie making business! Everyone also worships Anubis. He visits Molly in her dream and asks her to complete a mission for him. She does what anyone would do faced with a god, agrees to whatever he wants even though she would rather be just a normal girl obsessed with boys and shopping. When destiny calls a lot of family secrets and lies come out and Molly is really angry and I felt she had every right to be. When I was that age I punished my parents too so I felt Molly came across realistic. Far from perfect but a real teenager.

With no choice but to try to follow her destiny, she heads to a Nekyia Academy to help develop her powers. I was expecting something like Vampire Academy but it was more Hogwarts to me. Ghosts and ghouls running around and special studies to teach magic. Molly even has her own ghoul servant named Henry. Henry was such a sweet ghoul. It was a fun place to be and I enjoyed it. While reading I felt like I was right inside Molly's head and there were even little diary entries from Molly with advice for what she is going through. During special studies Rath is back to train her. They have kind of a love/hate relationship. It doesn't really get romantic or head into love triangle territory but there was some great banter and sexual tension. I can see it as the beginning to a great future relationship. Molly is still very into Rick who seems to be stalking her and she couldn't be happier. First love is always strong and I did think Rick was a great guy but he was dealt something he can't walk away from no matter how hard Molly wants to fix it.

There is a good amount of teenage drama but I didn't find it too overly annoying. I think this will probably be a bigger hit with actual teenagers and maybe those like me that very much remember being young. I still squee for spongebob slippers and footie PJs! lol I'm very young at heart. There is a little bit of mystery and action although rather predictable but there was one twist in the end that I actually didn't see coming. Maybe I should of but I was just more caught up in Molly's world. I thought it was a quirky place to be for a quick fun read! After a cliffhanger I am looking forward to getting deeper into Molly's head and finding out more about her mission for Anubis as well as getting to know more about Rath.

"What did you do, Molly?"
"Gah! Fine! I'm a necro, okay? I know how to make zombies. Sorta. I'm in training. So, when I saw Rick's soul, I just...grabbed it. And squished it inside."
Most of it, anyway.
He pushed off from the wall and straightened, keeping his arms crossed.
"You squished his soul back into his body?"

"Lesson One, Molly. Always be prepared."
"You're a jerk."
"You're disrespectful."
"Respect has to be earned," I said.
"True. Get up." I rolled onto my hands and knees and got back onto my feet.
Wary now, I walked back to Rath. I watched his feet, trying t ready myself to jump out of the way.
He shoved me.
I flew backward and landed on my ass. Fury boiled through me.

Rating: 4/5

Excerpt

I went to turn off the bedside lamp, but then I felt the cold swish, saw
the flash of black. Rath appeared. Damn it. Really? Really?
I sat up.
“What do you want?”
“Nice to see you, too, brown eyes.”
“Shut up.”
Rath
stared at me, one eyebrow quirked. “Aw. Does someone have a crush on
me?”
“Not even.” He grinned. And my stomach did that tingly-squeezy
thing. Rick, I thought, feeling weirdly desperate. Rick is my
almost-boyfriend.
Rath was … annoying.
“It’s cute when you scrunch your
nose like that.”
I looked up at Rath. “You think I’m cute?”
“Not really,” he said. “I think you’re immature, irresponsible, and
ditzy. But the nose thing, that’s okay.”
I wanted to lash out, to tell
him that he wasn’t exactly a prize human being—or reaper,
whatever—himself. But I was tired. I didn’t want to fight.
So I shut it
all down and stared at him mutely. Actually, I was stealing this
technique from Ally. It was effective because it made people
uncomfortable and they usually walked away. My problem was that I’d much
rather spout off. Cold anger was harder to express.
“No searing
comeback?” he asked. He pressed a knee on the bed and leaned down.
“What? You’re not even gonna stick out your tongue?”
My stomach squeezed and my breath caught. I was unnerved by him being on
my bed, and he knew it, too. He was trying to make me uncomfortable.
“If you’re through insulting me,” I said, trying to keep the tremble out
of my voice, “you can leave.”
“Oh, I’m not through, brown eyes.” He
offered another wicked grin that made my insides squirm again. Yikes.
“Not by a long shot.”
These inappropriate feelings for Rath were really
gigging up my ju-ju. I didn’t even like him. Okay, he had the hotness
factor, but he was also an asshole.
“Seriously, Rath, what do you want?”
“I’ll let you know.” He pulled back from the bed, crossed his arms, and
looked at me with an expression I couldn’t quite figure out. “See you
tomorrow.”
“What? Why?” The grinned turned evil. “Oh, we’re going to see
a lot of each other, brown eyes.” He leaned down, way down, until he
was mere inches away. “I know Rick is here. He shouldn’t be.”
“None of
your business,” I said.
“And by here, I mean on the earthly plane.” His
expression turned serious. “You get that, right?”
“Whatevs.”
He had the
nerve to flash me a look of disappointment, and then he shook his head.
“You have a lot to learn, Molly. I just hope you’re up to it.” Then he
disappeared. I slammed back into the bed and muffled my scream of
frustration. What was that guy’s problem? And what did he mean about
seeing me tomorrow? And seeing me a lot? As if!

Michele Vail writes young adult paranormal fiction about zombies and reapers.
She likes reading, dogs, cats, board games, ghost-hunting shows, and Halloween. She believes in magic, in the impossible, and in the restorative powers of chocolate.
Michele lives happily-ever-after with her Viking and their family.

Great review Jennifer. I've seen some reviews where people weren't too crazy about Molly but she didn't seem to annoy you. I'm hoping she wont annoy me either as I really like the premise of this book. The relationship between Molly and Rath sounds interesting and I'm looking forward to getting stuck into it.

This book sounds interesting, at least in theory. Your review makes me curious about it, but I just hope there isn't too much teen speak. It tends to annoy me, but it can't be that bad since you liked the book. Thanks for the giveaway!

I agree with you, this is probably better for an actual teen audience or those who are used to younger protagonists. It's mostly why I had issues with it, but I look forward to the sequel. Great review as always! :)

I just a read review for this and I am very much intrigued by the whole concept/story of this book. It sounds very kickass and I want to know more about it. And let's be serious, anything that reminds you of Hogwarts HAS to be cool! LOL ;p And like you I am also very curious about Rath and want to know more about him! Can't wait to pick this up!

Oh My God, thank you SO much for this amazing review! I kind of forgot the book, and I had to write a review for it, and now I remember everything! I agree, it was fun with the sarcasm, and the world was entirely fun! haha! Im glad you enjoyed this!- Farah @ MajiBookshelf

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